Reports surfaced yesterday that Bird is raising even more capital. This time, the electric scooter company is looking at $200 million in venture funding at a $2 billion valuation. (Yes, this comes only two weeks after media reported on its $150 million round at $1 billion.)
If you’re getting confused as to who’s buying, who’s investing, who’s raising, and who’s getting in trouble with the city of San Francisco, welcome to the club. I wrote a story on all the e-scooter companies just three weeks ago, which is now wildly outdated. You know things are getting out of control when companies are raising money faster than you can hit the “publish” button.
Here’s an organized list so we don’t all go crazy:
• Two months ago, Bird raised $100 million in Series B funding at a $300 million valuation.
• Two weeks ago, Bird began raising $150 million at a $1 billion valuation. Sequoia Capital signed on as the lead investor.
• Bird is now raising an additional $200 million in funding at a reported $2 billion valuation. It is unclear who will lead this tranche.
• Bird plans to focus on global expansion, and The Information reports that it’s setting up an office in China.
• Lime, which is Bird’s closest rival, has raised a total of $132 million, but it’s reportedly in the middle of raising up to $500 million in new funding. Its backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Fifth Wall Ventures, and GGV Capital.
• Skip, a much smaller e-scooter player, is reportedly raising $25 million in Series A funding at a $100 million post-money valuation. Investors include Menlo Ventures, Accel, and Y Combinator.
• Uber recently acquired dockless e-bike service Jump Bikes (formerly known as Social Bicycles) for a reported amount of $200 million. The company had only raised a little more than $11 million in venture funding from investors, including Menlo Ventures, SOSV, and SineWave Ventures.
• Lyft is nearing a deal to buy bike-share company Motivate for at least $250 million, but now Uber is trying to swoop in and break up the deal.
One thing to note: See how everyone’s starting to invest in everything? Accel is backing both Bird and Skip, and Menlo is behind both Jump and Skip. Looks like a page out of Softbank’s playbook — who cares who wins the race if you’ve bet on the entire ecosystem?
